Katera

Chapter 5: All Too Much

Hukai returned to the the throne room after almost everyone had left. "The girl has been taken care of Prince Adari."

"Good. Now go to your post." Prince Adari replied

Hukai left the throne room once more. After Hukai left Maria went into the presence of the prince.

"How could you do that?" Maria questioned

"Do what?" Prince Adari asked

"Execute Jessie."

"Oh that? There is no need to explain it."

"There may not be a need, but I sure would appreciate an explanation."

"Listen Maria, I've already told you. The rules here are very different than what you're use to. They are much stricter, and they apply to anyone that dares to step foot into this city."

"You told me a lot of things like 'not all vampires are brutal and merciless' and that 'you don't indulge in favoritism'. What did favoritism have to do with anything anyway? I fail to see how it was even relevant to the situation you were referring to."

"Well, I'd rather keep that to myself. I'm sorry, I didn't want to have your friend executed, I just did what had to be done, and that is that."

"Then why'd you do it?" Maria asked

"Here, we have something called the 3-strike system. How it works is if you are sent to trial and somehow obtain 3 strikes, just like how it works in a game 3 strikes and you're out. If I was truly a ruthless and merciless person I would've had her executed on that night and forced you to watch. But I didn't. If I had indulged in favouritism..."

"Oh, I guess I really didn't think about it like that. Also I must ask, why did you lock me in that cabin?

"You fell asleep, what was I suppose let sleep outside only to become someone's dinner?"

"Okay. But still, what does favoritism have to do with Jessie's trial?"

"Uh..nothing. Just forget I said anything." Prince Adari said as he walked away

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Was it something I said?" Maria said to herself.

"I'm not sure it was something you said, but I'll go talk to him." Suri said

"Well, that was stupid." Prince Adari thought to himself as he walk through and observed Katera. He gazed up at the starry night sky in silence, but it wasn't long before the silence was broken.

"Are you alright your majesty?" Suri asked

"I've been better." Prince Adari replied "Suri?"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you knew no matter how you put it, it would sound completely insane or absurd?"

"No, but if that did happen I would try to say in the most formal way possible so I don't make myself look like an idiot."

"What if you're afraid to tell them, because you think they won't take you seriously and will probably gossip about it?"

"I would ask them to promise not to tell anyone else before I told them."

"What if you had your chance to tell them, but didn't take it, and you're almost certain you won't get another?"

"Then I'd put it behind me and keep moving forward.Why are you asking me these things? Are you in a similar situation?"

Prince Adari turns his head away from Suri.

"You are, aren't you? Do you feel like talking about it?" Suri asked

"Not really." Prince Adari replied

"Okay then." Suri responded "Wait a second. I think I know what this is about. This is about Maria isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's okay if you don't want to admit it, I won't pry. Also, something tells me you haven't run out of chances quite yet." With that being said Suri walked away.

The rest of the night went on in silence, just before dawn Prince Adari went to bed but couldn't fall asleep. He laid awake most of the day and when dusk had come again he got up having had very little rest. After leaving his room in the palace, he went into the woods but was too tired to catch anything. So instead he sat down at the base of a tree trunk for about 5 minutes then started to head back to Katera. As he did so, he began to think about the past nights. Eventually he got lost in thought, completely unaware that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going nor to what was going on around him, and he was attacked by a rabid wolf.

When the wolf pounced on him and he was then brought back to reality, and also had no idea what to do.

Just as the wolf was about to tear the prince to shreds, it made a slight jolt of movement then it collapsed. Be as that it may, the wolf was dead. The prince was confused as to why this was, until noticed an arrow sticking out of it's right side. He then looked over and saw Maria standing there with her bow and arrows.

"Are you alright?" Maria asked

"I'm fine." Prince Adari said as he stood up. "Thank you, and didn't you say you were going to stop bowhunting at night?"

"Well, yes. I was trying to clear my mind of..things." Maria began to say "So what are you doing so far away from Katera?"

"I was trying to think things through, and I got lost in thought." Prince Adari replied

"I guess you can emphasize the 'lost' bit." Maria said as she started to giggle then she looked looked over at Prince Adari and saw that he had a frown on his face. "You seem rather depressed. Do you want to talk about?"

"Not really." he replied

"You also seem very tired, despite the fact that you probably just woke up a little bit ago."

"I didn't get much sleep."

"Oh, sorry about that."

"No need to apologize, It's not like it was your fault."

"True, but anyway you should probably getting back to Katera. If I were you, I wouldn't want to be gone too long."

"You're right, I should be getting back." Prince Adari began to say "Would you mind walking back to Katera with me? I really don't want to walk back alone. Also I'm not exactly sure how to get back from here. I walked a lot farther than I thought I did."

"I wouldn't mind at all, I would be glad to help you back to Katera." Maria replied

With that being said the two began walking back to Katera.